Brad Pitt helps raise $200K for marriage equality

Actor's matching gift of $100,000 sparks donation 24-hour donation rally less than a week ahead of gay marriage votes in six states.

A very generous pledge by Brad Pitt has turned into $200,000 in donations for the organization Human Rights Campaign.

The 48-year-old actor earlier in the week announced that he would match up to $100,000 in donations to the organization, which is supporting marriage equality ballot measures in six states ahead of election day. The only catch? Supporters had only 24 hours to match the full amount.

"It's unbelievable to me that people's lives and relationships are literally being voted on in a matter of days," Pitt wrote in an email to HRC members and supporters. "In Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, voters will go to the polls to decide if gay and lesbian couples – our friends and neighbors – are worthy of the same protections as everyone else.

"But that's the system we have and I'm not going to back down from the fight for loving and committed couples to have the ability to marry. Especially when groups like the Human Rights Campaign are fighting these battles day-in and day-out.

"So, here's what I'm going to do. If you make a contribution to these ballot measure campaigns in the next 24 hours, I'll double it – every dollar of the way, up to $100,000."

HRC announced earlier today that Pitt's call to action has netted the organization $200,000; crucial cash that will be used in the final days to support ballot measures in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington.

Pitt, a long-time proponent of equality for the LGBT community, has long urged repeal of laws discriminating against gay marriage.

“No state should decide who can marry and who cannot," he said last year. "Thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage.”